A.M. Best Co. plans to add an innovation component to its ratings and is requesting comments from market participants in the insurance industry and other interested parties on the draft of a new criteria procedure Scoring and Assessing Innovation, Best said in a statement Thursday.
Best has captured innovation indirectly in the past “through the various building blocks of its rating process,” it said.
Its evaluation of a company’s innovation level, outlined in the draft criteria procedure, will be based on two elements, innovation inputs and innovation outputs, the statement said.
Best said it plans to “explicitly” consider whether a company’s innovation efforts, or lack thereof, have had a demonstrable positive or negative impact on its long-term financial strength, and expects that all rated companies eventually will be scored and assigned a published innovation assessment.
The draft criteria procedure is available at www.ambest.com/ratings/methodology, and written comments should be submitted by email to methodology.commentary@ambest.com by May 13, 2019, the Best statement said.
PHILADELPHIA – Technological innovation is forcing the insurance industry to rethink its approach to covering emerging and evolving exposures, according to experts.